When people start throwing around terms like sample size without sharing data they tend to lose a bit of credibility with me. Do I think our K-12 system is great? No. Do I think it reasonable to compare it to selected samples from other nations? Nope.

__________________"Sometimes the point of doing something is not to find the "best" way of doing it, but to discover the most fun" - Gever Tulley

"Use peaceful means where they are appropriate; but where they are not appropriate, do not hesitate to resort to more forceful" Thupten Gyatso (the Dalai Lama, 1932)

"It is not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters" Coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant.

"The ink of scholars is more precious than the blood of martyrs" - Muhammed

I was homeschooled with an online program and it was the worst school I'd ever "attended". Terrible teacher-student communication. If I had a question I had to email my teacher and I was lucky to get a response 2 days later. That and the assignment submission was glitchy--I got so many zeros as scores because the damn submission program was always broken.

My grades were terrible year-round and I always ended up having to cram and study my *** off for every course exam because, due to my terrible averages, if I got anything low on any exams I'd fail the class.

That and I had pretty much no life for the 2 years I was homeschooled... I hardly got out of the house at all and saw my friends once a week, sometimes less.

I think a good bit of Parent/Child time after public school would help out better. Go over what your child learned that day, help them understand. If both parents are working or there is a single parent situation, this would be Ideal. You can't expect to hand your kids off to the State to teach them about lifes basics and prepare them for life ahead.

My daughter goes to a private school, which we pay for... It's a great school. But I'm also still paying for public school. So basically I'm paying twice for a better education.

Vouchers would be best. People can then choose which school they can take their money. Schools would then compete for that money by offering more/better, etc.

She just got her first standardized testing back. 97th percentile. I'll be keeping her there.

But it's SO MUCH MORE than just the school. Too much blame goes on the school when folks should be looking at home first. School is only part of the equation. Home is the other part. You can't blame the school without also having to blame home too. You can go to the worst school, but with the right about of education at home supplementing it, you can still come out on top.

^ isn't home school... You are describing online school, there is a big difference.

Home schooling is where the parents are teaching their kids at home. Sometimes online curriculum is used, but it is parent driven, not by a teacher off site.

It was homeschooled--both my parents and a teacher taught me. About 50% of the work was online, but unfortunately because of the online factor, all my work had to be submitted and that's where I had problems.